Photo Gallery: Month’s Photos for July 2012

Wildfires and searing heat non-withstanding, July gave us reason to be optimistic.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

A group of three huddle together under an umbrella as they rush through a brief rainstorm Friday in the 500 block of Main Street.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

A great blue heron skewers a trout at Confluence Park in Delta. The bird waded onto a sandbar just covered by water and speared the fish before flying away and landing on the stump. It flipped the fish up and swallowed it whole.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Monument Major boys little league coach Brett Coutts, top, celebrates with his team after they defeated South Boulder to win the State Championship.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Tracks lead to a dead fish, probably carp, in the Audubon’s Ela Sanctuary pond near Connected Lakes. The pond fills from high water in the nearby Colorado River but is drying up this year.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Levi Miller carries some melting ice in to cool the fresh sweet corn.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Tillie Bishop, right greets Shari and John Zen before a Grand Junction Lions Club luncheon to honor Bishop at Two Rivers Convention Center Tuesday afternoon. The Lions Club is honoring Bishop, a current CU regent, former Mesa County commissioner and former state senator and representative.

Photo by Dave Buchanan

A paddleboarder Sunday negotiates the still water of Mesa Lake on Grand Mesa during an interlude between thunderstorms.The popular lake has shrunk a bit this summer but still offers plenty of fishing and flatwater recreation.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Aimee Basinski hits a forehand in the Taco Bell Tennis Tournament against Anne Hughes during the girls 18 and under single final at the Elliott Tennis Center Thursday morning. Basinski won 6-3, 6-2.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

A Mesa County Sheriff’s deputy looks up at personnel on the engine of an Amtrak train that struck a person on the tracks east of 33 Road Tuesday.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Blake Andersen, 12, races to the ball during his boys 12 singles match against Brandon Lovato in the Taco Bell tennis tournament Tuesday at the Elliott Tennis Center. Andersen won the match 6-4, 6-3. The two boys are friends, and both are on Monument Little League teams that won their respective state baseball titles last weekend.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Korbin Roehm, 13, of Fruita pets his Maine Anjou steer Chromey after selling the animal in the ring Saturday at the Mesa County Fair’s auction.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Grand Junction Rocky Juan Ciriaco takes off for first as he watches his bunt during the bottom of the third inning of Saturday’s game.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Children play in the spray from a water cannon on top of a Grand Junction Fire Department engine during the Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest on Friday at Canyon View Park.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Rockies first baseman Todd Helton connects with the ball for a single in the bottom of the third inning of Saturday’s game.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Todd Helton signs autographs for Austin, 6, and Teegan, 4, Rager before the game. There was a long line of fans who took advantage of the opportunity.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

10 year-old Jenna Moores, 85 lbs., leads her steer weighing in at 1377 lbs. Around the show ring in the market Steer class. this is her second year showing steers.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Kneeling in a xeric garden and holding a rootball of a Carol Mackie daphne, Curtis Smith with the Colorado State University’s Cooperative Extension Service describes how different soil in the rootball may not hold moisture that can move into surrounding dirt and leave the roots too dry when conditions are hot and dry.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Justin Granger rides Hot Legs at the Professional Bull Riders Touring Division event at the Mesa County Fair. The grandstands were nearly full as a large crowd came out to the event.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Ashtyn Walter, 9, of Fruita makes fast work of a piece of watermelon at the watermelon eating contest at the Mesa County Fair. Her younger sister, Morgan won the eight-year-old and below contest. The fair continues through Saturday with lots of family entertainment.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Samuel Thorning puts on a big smile for the judge in the Pee Wee Market Showmanship competition at the 125th Mesa County Fair.

A small herd of deer pauses for a moment chest-deep in a farmer’s field in southwestern Colorado.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Kaden King of Monument steps on third base ahead of the tag by Fruita’s Brady Vidmar after he advances on a double by Dominic Trujillo in the bottom of the first inning of Wednesday’s boys 11-year-old championship game at Monument Little League.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Central High School Student Body President Lyndzee Dwyer had the honor of introducing Mitt Romney during Romney’s Town Hall meeting at Central High School.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Mitt Romney at a Town Hall meeting at Central High School.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Sammi Medina who plays golf for Central High School hits out of the sand trap on the #3 hole at the Bookcliff Country Club Monday afternoon as part of the Daily Sentinel Junior Golf Tournament.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Boaters pass by Antelope Island on Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area near Page, AZ. The lake has over 1,900 miles of shore line.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Juan Ciriaco, top, Yan Jullian, top, and unidentified guy in the black coat goof around in the dugout.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Clifton and Grand Junction firefighters meet at F and 30 roads near the border of the two departments. The fire departments are trying to determine how to serve newly annexed properties that previously were in Clifton’s jurisdiction.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Amber Hodges working on a home in the Hoffman Subdivision.Hodges is part of a woman’s build team working on Habitat for Humanity housing.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Grand Junction marbles enthusiast Sam Lee shows one of his shooters after placing sixth at the National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, N.J.

The Fourth of July parade in downtown Grand Junction Wednesday kept the kids entertained, for the afternoon.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

Rehearsals and other last-minute preparations are going on now for Broadway at the Avalon’s production of “CATS.” There are 32 cast members in the musical, which can be seen at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 13–14, and 2 p.m. Sunday, July 15, at Avalon Theatre, 645 Main St.

Photo by Christopher Tomlinson

No.40. Ben Waldrip from the Grand Junction Rockies splinters his bat in the 4th inning in a gamer Wednesday against the Orem Owlz.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

Cheyenne McGrath, 3, makes her own fireworks display at a craft table at the Freedom Fest in Fruita, in lieu of the traditional display on July 3 that has been canceled because of the fire danger. Fruita and Fruita Christian Church teamed up for a free concert in the Civic Center.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

A bug with huge antennas waits on the side of a table, presumably to nab the crumb of a potato chip at a family picnic near Montrose recently.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

William Springer of Grand Junction enjoys the last few feet of his Sunday float down the Colorado River before docking at the Blue Heron boat launch. Springer was being towed by a raft with his wife and a friend on board.

Photo by Dean Humphrey

The San Carlos camp crew from Arizona sets up a big tent at the ball park fields in DeBeque where many of the crews are sleeping during the fire. A Type-One team consists of not only firefighters but many support crews to take care of the logistical and personal needs. With all the influx of activity, the sleepy town of DeBeque has doubled in population.

Photo by Gretel Daugherty

Incident Commander Bill Hahnenberg gives a briefing on firefighters’ progress in containing the Pine Ridge Fire outside of De Beque. Although fire weather is still extreme, the crews on the fire line now have the fire 25 percent contained, particularly along the northeast line of the fire that is closest to town.